Monday, April 25, 2011

I miss my horses! Yeah, it's only been one day since I was out at the barn, but now that I'm accustomed to going out there nearly every day I feel like I'm slacking when I do take a day off.

Also, going to the barn is easy exercise. Going off-topic for a bit, I've been on a diet/exercise routine for about 3 months. Ok, so I've been on a semi-diet for 3 months, a serious diet since April 5 and have been trying to exercise for about a month.

The barn is like a giant, dusty, poopy gym, but it's way more expensive. However, unlike a gym there are repercussions for not doing what you went there to do. If you don't work out at a gym, you just look like a tool...if you don't do your barn chores when you're at the barn, ponies literally go hungry. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want that on my conscious.

Another great thing about the barn is how it doesn't really feel like you're exercising. Riding my mare doesn't seem like work, it's fun! Grooming two horses for 15-30 minutes? That's not exercise, that's preventative maintenance. Lunging or round-penning? Isn't that more like exercise for the horses? Packing supplements, hefting bags of feed, hauling shavings, shoveling poop? Well, it all has to be done, right? Actually, all those things are amazing workouts!

I was thinking about it the other day and I pack supplements and feed for both horses every Tuesday. Just looking at what I pack for the mare, each scoop of feed that goes in her bag weighs between 1 and 3 lbs. Let's just say 2 lbs each. She gets 5 scoops in each bag, 7 bags a week. That's 35 reps, dude! And that's just for one horse. I know lifting 2 pounds isn't mind blowing or anything, but compared to doing say...NOTHING? Yeah, it helps.

It's the little things, you know? I actively exercise 3-4 days a week outside of going to the barn, but on days where I do go and I work hard, I feel like it counts as a workout. That way I can act all sanctimonious and be all "Yeah, I work out." :smug:

Saturday, April 23, 2011

So, I'm being a turd about keeping this updated, I know...

It was new boot day today...my old ones were going on 3 years and while they're not trashed completely, they were getting broken down enough that they were causing me some discomfort during long barn days. My solution? Get new boots so I can endure about a week of excruciating pain and hopefully 3 more years of comfort. I can only hope since they're really cute boots.

Coco is doing better today...we were going for a nice light workout, at a walk, and he insisted on cantering a ton. He was still pretty off at the trot, but I'm going to chalk up the cantering to him being a reasonably active horse who's been cooped up for over a week with no outlet. Mike tried to keep him as calm as possible so he wouldn't hurt himself. Guess we'll figure out tomorrow if he overdid it. He also got the crap groomed out of him and his coat is coming in amazingly well. It's deep, rich, shiny and I think I saw a hint of dapples.

Seven got a light workout cantering over the poles. She wasn't even winded when we were done, but we've decided that we're going to alternate tough workouts with lighter ones and riding with groundwork so we keep it interesting for everyone involved. I actually hopped on her bareback/bridle-less the other day in the round pen. We don't have much in the way of steering, but she will move around your leg pretty well.

Tomorrow either Mike or I will take Seven out on the trails for her workout. She loves it out there and she's proven so far to be almost completely unflappable. The biggest issue we've had so far is her not wanting to stay on the path. Seriously, if she had her way she'd go blasting through the highest brush she could find. It should be a fun day!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Coco's still lame...it sucks. I know it's going to take a few days for him to feel better, but he's not the same horse when he's hurting. He got lots of lovin' on today, though, and an extra special feed treat (to disguise his bute).

We both rode Seven again today. Mike had her doing halt to canter transitions with just a kiss. It was really epic to see. I cooled her out by riding around the farm for about 20 minutes and wasn't thinking and kissed to her as we started up a hill. She blasted up it full speed. Good girl. She was just doing what I told her to <3!

We have to make a trip to the feed store tomorrow so I can pack more supplements. They're not open on Wednesday and they're the only feed store within 45 minutes so I just packed what I could. I'm going to bump her rice bran up to two scoops for a week or two and see if I can't get those ribs covered up. We're working her so much more consistently now that it's kinda tough to get her to gain like I want. Don't get me wrong, the muscle gain is much better than fat, but I don't like ribby horses.

I think I err on the side of caution when dealing with my own horses. Like, I'm wary of over-feeding because of founder, but I really have no idea how much food it takes to push a horse over the edge. I'm pretty sure I'm well within safe parameters considering the amount of Alfa-Mo we were recommended to feed Seven every day. A whole bucket?! Holy crap! Ok, though...she's the vet and it seems to be working.

Sometimes I find myself judging other people's horses, thinking "Man, that horse is thin with a crappy topline, they should do xxx to put some weight on them", when my own damned horses have weight issues and shitty toplines, too. I never give advice, if I can help it though, you know? Like, if someone asks me about a product I've used I'll gladly give them my opinion, but I could never tell anyone how to feed or condition a horse. Because I don't freakin' know!

Using my own horses as an example, we had a very good vet tell us that we should take Seven completely off alfalfa and put her on straight bermuda hay with only a small amount of feed (like one scoop) with her supplements. We did exactly what we were told and for a while she looked great. She dropped her excess weight and was looking pretty good. The problem was she didn't maintain on that diet and kept losing weight until she was at the point where I was embarrassed that I owned her.

I totally don't try to self-medicate though. Next time we had a (different) vet out I made sure to have a list of questions about what I needed to do get her weight back up. I'm following those directions coupled with some advice from an experienced horse person at the barn and I'm getting results. The best part of this situation is, now I have someone on the inside who can keep an eye on her (the person at the barn is also the person who feeds my horse every day) who knows what and how much food she's getting.

That got long winded! Anyway, hopefully I'll have some pics tomorrow. Yay, horses!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Coco's lame, Seven's great!

So it's been a few days since I've updated but tons of things have happened with the horses. First, Coco's mysterious lameness turned out to be an abscess. Yuck, dude. Luckily, the vet was able to lance it and get it draining on Saturday so all we have to do is make sure it stays wrapped and clean. Really, we should have known...he gets them all the time. I'm pretty sure everything in the world can cause Coco to abscess. Too little care, too much care, water, food, standing, running, lunar phases, planetry alignment...

At least we know how to deal with it. Diapers, vet wrap, iodine, epsom salts, hot water and duct tape. Tools of the fucking trade.

Sev is doing fantastic though! We rode her again today in the Cashel saddle at all three gaits and she learned about listening to cues and not trotting as fast as she can all the time. Seriously, full throttle trotter. Warp speed. She cantered two full laps in the big arena in both directions with mike! It is so exciting to have her this sound!

Hopefully coco will be feeling better tomorrow and we can get him back into work. I'd hate to see that big fine butt waste away.

Exciting news about my garden, though! Even though the gardeners tried to sabotague the lettuce by jamming a fucking tomato cage into the pot which ripped up a ton of soil when we removed it, our plantlings are thriving, blooming and sprouting! I saw the first baby carrots today and the edamame is going crazy. Its very exciting for me...I've never really grown something from a seed before.

I'm posting this from the Xoom, so if its full of errors that's what's responsible. This thing is really cool, but typing with no tactile feedback is really tough. I'll also try to upload some pics later, too.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Coco day 16, Seven day 14

Do you see that shit? That's a mare cantering willingly under saddle. She did at least 3 whole circuits total, probably 1.5 in each direction. She was a firecracker! Mike practiced polo swings off her and I cooled her out by riding around the farm for about 10 minutes. Then she got hosed off and we all stood in the sun and dried off.

Coco was buted about 30 mins before his workout, but doesn't seem to be improved at all. In fact, he actually seems off on his right hind now, also. Horses are such a fucking crap shoot. We just have to keep plugging on and working though these issues, I suppose. He worked very lightly over poles, then got groomed really well because he's still such a good boy and we love him no matter what.

Bonus Seven pics!



Later!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

coco day 15, seven day 12 (?)

No pics again today. I was too excited about getting new skates to remember my camera. They're amazing skates and I skated 1/2 a mile today after working with the horses. Poorly.

Good news though! The vet happened to be out at the farm today and said we've been doing an amazing job with both horses. She said they have both put on tons of muscle and Seven's butt looks twice as big as it did last time she saw her. Hell yes that feels good! I got clearance to ride Seven today, too. I'm so fucking going to tomorrow, too.

Unfortunately since Coco's feet were trimmed he's been very footsore, especially going to the right. We asked the vet about this and she suggested 1g of bute 30 minutes before we work him, and then only at the walk over our poles. If he doesn't improve by saturday, well...we've got a vet appointment already booked and we'll go from there. Another option we have is to see if he improves when we put his hoof boots on while we work him. He did lose a ton of sole during that trim, so we're really hoping it's nothing too serious. Bleh. Horsefeet.

Seven is doing amazing in her round pen work. She's still not the most graceful and knocks a lot of poles, but she's cantering a lot easier than she ever has. I asked the vet during our 5 min free visit (hell yes) about her new attitude toward grooming..did I mention before that she's started being a total bitch about being groomed? Like, considering biting me and shit? She doesn't dare actually go through with it because I make her think she's going to die when she even looks at me nasty, but she's biting anything she can reach and it's pissing me off. Anyway, the vet said that it could be a number of things, namely that it's breeding season and she's just bitchy about everything or that she just finally feels good enough to have an opinion about things. Either way, now that I'm pretty sure it's not a pain issue, she's gonna get her ass kicked if she tries that shit anymore. Your opinion doesn't matter, Mare. My need to have a clean shiny horse trumps your desire to have poo-fur.

It makes me hopeful that we really are on the right path with both of these horses now.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

coco day 14, seven day 10

Slacked off and skipped a day doing the blog...but not working the horses. Seven was in rare form today, and I have the pics to prove it.


Seriously, I want to know what's up with that tail. You're (probably) not an arabian, Seven. Don't start acting like one.

So since she was feeling so good she got to canter sets of poles during her workout. Not many, she did 4 sets one way, and maybe 6 poles total in the other direction, and a lighter trotting session. She's developed and attitude about being groomed that I don't appreciate one fucking bit. Seriously, she will gnash her teeth while she's being brushed...she's not brave enough to actually bite me, but she bites everything in reach. Coco, the lead rope, the tie rail, the air...I'm moderately worried about this behavior. Next Saturday is the follow-up exam for both horses, so I'll mention it to the vet then.

Coco was his usual handsome. dopey self. He's been getting lighter workouts for the past two days because he's seemed a little off since Saturday. Not lame, just...not exactly right. He doesn't want to work to the left, either. More questions for the vet.


I finally got my carrots planted and replanted my lettuce after the pot was accidentally overturned. I also spread around the horse poop that I brought home for fertilizer. Then, I baked 3 loaves of beer bread and one loaf of wheat banana bread.

Pretty busy day, all told.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Coco day 12, Seven day 8

Spent the day yesterday putting in our small garden. I've never really gardened before so it'll be an experiment in itself. Bonus: we have all the fertilizer we could ever possibly need.

No pictures today, unfortunately. I forgot to bring the camera along and regretted it immediately.

Coco was in the middle of having his hooves trimmed when we arrived today. That's a whole other thing...His feet are terrible, gross, mealy excuses anyway and I'm not sure our current trimmer is doing much for him. Yes, Mike is a farrier, but with his wrist still healing we've had to rely on other people to trim the horses for us. There's nothing necessarily wrong with the way his feet are being trimmed and he's not lame, it's just not exactly how I would like for them to be trimmed. We're getting a second opinion next week, I think.

Speaking of idiots, Coco really showed his ass today during his workout. Wow. He tried every trick in the book to avoid going over more than 2 poles on any given lap, but also acted like he had twice the energy he normally does. Needless to say, Mike worked the stupid out of him. Well, not all of it because...let's face it, there'd be nothing left.

He's looking pretty good, though, so that's something.

Seven was an angel as usual for her workout and seemed to really want to trot today. So I let her. She didn't seem sore, taxed or winded having done it and she recovered very quickly so maybe it's time to push her a little. She has a vet appointment on April 16, so we'll definitely get more answers then. She's moving a lot better, but her joints still pop and crack a lot.

We worked a bit more on the importance of waiting until she has permission to eat her food. She's a great horse, but very pushy when it comes to eating things. And, not that people should ever be feeing my horse anything without my permission, but I'd hate to have her get grabby and bite a kid or something.

A Note To Children: Do not touch my horse. It is not for you.

And since every post is worthless without pics, here's a photo of Coco being a complete wank.

This was taken a little over a year ago. He had about 90% coverage. Literally took us hours to get him clean. I think I mentioned that Coco likes mud...just wanted to give you an idea of how much. Next time he does that shit, he's staying that way.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Coco day 11, Seven day 7

Cool, cloudy and drizzly today. I like days like that as long as it doesn't piss rain for a week and completely ruin the stalls and all of the bedding. Coco can't handle mud. It's not that he has an aversion to the stuff, he just won't stay out of it. Sometimes I think he makes his own mud from piss and horse poop to lay in just to spite me.

Speaking of the Dingus, he didn't feel well today. His breakfast was only half eaten when we got there around 1pm and he seemed really listless. I found his fly mask in his neighbor's stall (thanks jerky neighbor horse, I'm glad you're going to Hawaii if you're going to try to shred fly masks) and he had a scrape on his big dumb head.

Nothing awful, mostly just lost hair. He loves other horses so much he can't keep his face to himself so we deal with a lot of bite marks on this guy. Poor Coco, he just wants to be friends. I threw some Vetricyn on it and left it at that.

We didn't work him hard since he seemed so listless, just walking over (our new!) poles and letting him trot if he wanted. He was a touch off on his left front and Mike said it felt like he had some slight swelling in that tendon, so we used some mineral ice on all four legs and just let him hang out while Seven worked.

We followed the same outline as yesterday with Miss Sev. Eight laps in both directions, but this time over all four (new!) poles. She barely broke a sweat and didn't seem taxed by what we asked her to do. She mostly seemed bored.

Jealous of that new pole? They're incredibly adequate. Also, no sooner than we put them away, someone else at the barn dragged them back out to use. Mike and I both agree that so long as none of them decide to take a walk, we're fine with people using them. That custom paint job is hard to miss, though, so I doubt anyone would be that ballsy.

It was a so-so day. Seven did well, Coco was slightly off which always kinda worries me considering his history. Tomorrow is another day off while Mike has his PT session, so hopefully whatever is wrong with him will work itself out with some rest.

Aww...look, so friendly!

...Or not. She makes the best Mare Faces. Each one more pissy than the last.



Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Coco day 10, Seven day 6

No update yesterday since it was a rest day for the horses. Mondays and Thursdays they just have to hang out waiting for us to show up and torture them...but it never comes.

I was looking forward to talking about how awesome our new poles worked out, but unfortunately the paint wasn't completely dry yet this morning. Should be good to go tomorrow, though! If they're not, I'm taking them out there anyway. It's not like the horses won't trash the paint the first time we use them, right?

We didn't do any turnout today since the big arena seemed to have a steady stream of people coming and going. Just as well, because we lorded over the round pen for about an hour. First, Seven got to hang out at the patience pole while Mike worked with Coco.

I think her new diet is starting to make a difference. We've got a long way to go and she needs tons of ass muscle, but I think I'm already starting to see a little bit. Anyway, she's shiny and her dapples are starting to show so I must be doing something right.

Coco is starting to look really good. He worked for the usual amount of time first to the right, then to the left, then since he had some energy left (which he was using to be an ass) he worked to the right again. We try to push him a little every day and he seems to be responding really well to our routine. I was pretty proud of him today...Seven was tied right beside the round pen and he didn't act like (too much of) an idiot with her there. Way to focus, Dingus.

Oh, he also got a lesson on avoiding poles and how when you try to do that crazy men with whips chase you around. Scary.

Runnin' like the wind, lol. The out of shape wind.

Seven got her workout bumped up a touch. Not only did we trot 8 laps in each direction (roughly) she also got introduced to poles in the round pen. Double whammy. She rapped one pole pretty hard right off the bat, realized that it's unpleasant and I don't think she knocked another the rest of the time she was in there. Worked up a bit of a sweat today and was breathing harder than normal, but it was very light and she recovered quickly.

Yeah, she was super cute doing it, too. Isn't the little lightning bolt on her nose to die for? The answer is always yes.

Bonus Dingus:

Derp.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Coco day 9, Seven day 5

Pretty much a perfect Southern California day. Want proof?

There it is.

Weekends at the barn are usually so busy, so we try to go around mid-day to catch it when it's the most quiet. All of the early morning people are leaving and the evening people aren't around yet, which suits me just fine. It's so much nicer to have the arenas to yourself and not have to worry about being in someone's way or having them be in yours. Not that it's ever really an issue...I can't think of one person at the barn that's ever been less than completely awesome when it comes to sharing facilities.

We used the same workout as yesterday with both of the horses. Coco spent his time going over poles, and Mike says he's amazed at the difference a week has made. When we first started with him he could barely canter 5 laps and now he's easily doing 5 minutes in each direction.

Pick up those feet, Son.

Seven got her usual round pen work, and I think on Tuesday I might introduce some poles to her. She's a set it and forget it kind of mare...just tell her to start walking in a circle and she'll do it forever with minimal encouragement. She trotted her 5 laps in each direction with no sweat and was barely winded. We did lots of walking at a nice forward walk, then a little hand walk and graze around the lower part of the farm. Then we had a discussion about lunging after feed buckets and why that's a bad idea.

Shit feels good, man.

Now for the fun stuff. Currently there are only 2 communal poles that we can use at the barn. that's not too bad or anything, but the vet recommended that we work our way up to four over the course of a month and math tells me that's impossible with only two poles to work with. So, we had two options: 1) buy fucking expensive poles somewhere or 2) make some.

We're not fools, so we opted for two. Turns out, Home Depot sells almost the exact poles we needed to get started for about $9/pole. They're called peeler cores and they're around 8 feet long, if anyone ever ends up reading this and wants to sound like they know what they're doing when they ask the Home Depot lackey where to find them. They end up looking like this:




They seem pretty usable just the way they are, but knowing that ours are going to live outside, we decided we should probably paint them to give them a bit of weather resistance. Did you know that Home Depot sells gallons of "oops paint" for $5? It's paint that has been mixed with the wrong color that they obviously can't sell for full price. You don't get to pick your color, but for this project we didn't really care what color they were, just that they had a couple coats of paint for protection.

Ok, so it's actually "tinted primer". Whatever, it was the only outdoor latex paint they had in the oops rack. It's also a nice minty green. Very nice paint, too. Because we're painting them we sanded off some of the more scabby surfaces...

...using the angle grinder. I guess using some sandpaper with your hand would work, too. If you're not lazy or are lazy but don't have one of these sitting around. I'm sure this is more fun, though. And faster.

So, after all of the poles were sanded and prepped, we wiped them down with a damp cloth to remove all of the sawdust from the cracks so it wouldn't mess up the paint. It also showed us where we missed offending rough spots in the wood so we could take care of them, too.

Now we're ready for pai...Hey look! A hot air balloon!

Eeeee! *clapclapclap* I've lived here for like two years and it still makes me happy when I see them floating around. Sometimes there are like seven of them all at once and sometimes they nearly crash land in the yard. We've had them come in so low you can actually talk to the people riding inside them. Anyway, back to work.

So, we propped the poles up on our sawhorses and painted the middle sections like so:

An aside: I know Mike's the only one actually doing work in all of these pics, BUT that's just because he'd jump in and act all handy when I was busy taking the actual pictures. I actually did do a lot of this work! Anyway, once the middle sections were dry enough to handle we painted one end of each pole, allowed that to dry, flipped them and did the other ends.

And that's our progress so far. Tomorrow the horses have a day off because Monday and Thursday are Mike's physical therapy days. The poles need at least one more coat of paint and I'm also going to put some kickin' dark blue stripes on the ends and middle with some left over paint we have in the garage from our previous mounting block project.

It was a really productive day and felt damned good to get out and work on something in the sun. Projects like this not only save us money as horse owners, but also give us something to work on together. Neither one of us is particularly skilled when it comes to making shit, but building things like our mounting block or new ground poles makes us use our brains to figure out little problems that inevitably arise when you jump into projects like this. Not that sanding and painting pieces of wood takes much work or anything, but when it's finished we'll be able to say "Hey, we made this and now we're using it and it works." That's really satisfying.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Coco day 8, Seven day 4

Found out board is increasing next month. $25 per horse. Even with the increase, I wouldn't dream of looking for another place to board. Hay has increased around $8 a bale in the past two years.

It was much cooler today...mid-60s, which made getting all of our horsey errands done much easier.

Coco seems stiffer going to the right than he is going to the left, but Mike says he's able to canter longer in both directions. He wasn't too uncomfortable to act like a jerk for a while. Still working over two poles as we only have access to two of them in the upper arena. We have permission to store extra poles at the barn, though so I'm looking into buying or making some. ~20-25 min workout.

Seven was full of herself today. During turnout she was tossing her head and acting like a shit and even cantered again. I worked her in the round pen for around 20 mins. She trotted 5 laps each way, then walked for the rest of the time at a nice, forward walk. She seemed stiff after standing tied while she cooled out, but didn't seem uncomfortable during our hand-walking/grazing.

Considering putting Seven back on 2 feedings of alfalfa a day.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Coco day 7, Seven day 3

Of course they couldn't match up well.

We started our day at the feed shop. We needed hay replacer and shavings and I had a coupon (!) for a free Dura Fork when you buy 10 bags. I chose the only purple fork in the shop then we loaded up the truck and headed out to the barn.

Three bags of shavings and one 50lb bag of feed warrants being able to drive up to the barn instead of parking down in the lot and carrying everything up..especially when it's already 90 degrees and our day hasn't even begun. After getting our stuff squared away and letting both horses get about 20 minutes of free turn out to roll and do horse things, Mike set up 2 poles while I caught Seven and led her back to the tack shed.

Coco's exercise consisted of cantering over 2 poles situated opposite of each other while on the lunge line for a couple minutes in each direction with breaks to trot and walk to catch his breath. We plan to add additional poles ever week until we reach a total of four. Workout time: ~25-30 mins.

Seven was given about 20 mins of turnout where she walked briskly, trotted for about 1 total minute and even picked up a slow canter for about 10 seconds! She was hand walked for about 10 minutes after. Workout time: ~20 mins.

Both horses were hosed down, allowed to dry (mostly) and well groomed in addition to many pats and love before returning to their stalls and their lunch.

I don't personally own horses...?

I own horses. Well, Mike and I both own them. Actually, I own one and he owns the other, but the one I own isn't my horse. Also, I might have traded that horse to Mike because I owed him money for my camera. I own zero horses and one camera, and Mike owns two horses. Right.

A horse owns me, though, and there's really no way to dispute that. Her name is Seven. She came with that name and everyone knows that changing a horse's name is bad luck. At least it's classy. A classy name for a classy lady.



The other horse is Coco. He also came with his unfortunate name, bestowed upon him by the previous owners 6 year old daughter. It makes perfect sense...he is really brown after all.


Don't panic if they look concerned about wearing people clothes, they were both just worried they looked stupid.

So, I'm a new horse owner. Really, really new to this whole thing. I worked with horses a lot when I was a teenager... groomed, mucked, and showed. The whole thing. Let me be the first to say that it's a whole different ordeal when you're personally responsible for the well being of one (two) of these animals. Holy crap, I had no idea.

Admittedly, I don't think Mike and I went about buying our horses the right way. We weren't even allowed to ride Seven and Coco looked like a walking skeleton, but what's done is done and we're actually really happy with them over a year later. They both kinda wormed (horsed?) their way into our hearts so I guess they're here to stay.

Just to get this blog set up, let's talk about their health. Seven: came to us super overweight with potential Cushing's (turned out negative). And Coco was around 200lbs underweight with really shitty feet (he still has shitty feet).


That picture doesn't even really show how skinny the poor guy was. It was awful. After a few months though, he was looking like this:



And all we had to do was give him food every day. Anyway, long story short Coco still has bad feet and also has a bad back and Seven needed stifle injections. But! We're working on these things and that's what this blog is going to be about. We just met with an incredible vet and have a really solid plan for getting them both back into riding shape.

Coco is being made to suffer a strict routine of cantering over poles five days a week. He does not like this at all, no sir. He'd rather just stand there and stare at you or drink out of mud puddles. He's also on a diet of Bermuda hay for breakfast and supper, Alfalfa for lunch and one feeding of 1lb Safe Choice, 1 scoop hay replacer, 1lb Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, and a maintenance dose of Adeptus hoof supplement.

Seven had to get a steroid injection in her stifles to reduce the inflammation there so she can work on healing. She gets two weeks of very light work while the injection takes effect...turnout (she doesn't run around, so it's light work) and hand walking. We're also trying to put some weight back on her with so she eats Bermuda hay for breakfast, Alfalfa for supper, 1/2 bucket of OatMo (about 2 gal for now) for lunch along with 1lb Safe Choice, 1 scoop hay replacer, 1lb Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, 1 lb rice bran along with her supplemental Quiessence and Four Flex.

Basically I want a log of what we're doing with these guys so I can have it to reference when I need it. My goal is to try and keep this updated with pictures and what we do every day and record any changes that we may make along the way. Yay, horse rehab!